Konoha's Finest
by CharlieSlayer
Summary: Sasuke has long since returned and joined back with the readily waiting Team Seven. Follow Konoha's finest as they experience missions, life, their own feelings, and everything else they may find along the way as they travel on "the path of life." (SasuSaku mainly. Wasn't too sure what to put for the summary...)
1. Chapter 1

Sakura was on her knees being held steady by Sasuke. She had just had her leg broken by the last missing ninja they had been assigned to dispose of. She had been winning the fight against the dozen of missing ninja they were up against, but with only a few left, she had become cocky and lowered her guard. Something she cursed herself for when he snuck up behind her and swiftly kicked her leg out from under her as she finished off the two in front of her. The crack that came from the bone in her leg breaking was a sickening sound. Sasuke had quickly come to her rescue and sliced the foe's throat with his katana.

"I had him, you know." She said through gritted teeth as she attempted to stand. Her leg, protesting against the movement, quickly buckled beneath her, causing her knees to slam painfully into the ground and her to release a gasp of pain. She would have landed face first into the dirt had Sasuke not caught her.

"Hmph." He grunted as he held her steady. She tried to escape from his grasp, but he held firm, like iron.

"Let me go! I'm fine!" She snapped angrily at him. 'Great,' she thought 'Now he thinks I'm as weak as ever.' He gave her a look that said he didn't by a word she was saying.

"Then stand up," he said narrowing his eyes, yet keeping his voice level and cool as always. He eased his grip on her as she tried to stand. You could see the pain in her eyes, but the pink haired kunoichi was too stubborn to stop. She stood up, but immediately regretted her decision to do so when a 'crack!' came from her leg, assuring her that she had just caused the break to become even worse, and fell straight back into Sasuke's arms. "Exactly." He stated, holding her against him.

The effort it had taken to stand by herself on her broken leg had all but winded Sakura. As she tried to form the familiar orb of green chakra around her hand to heal her leg, she noticed the gash on Sasuke's arm. She healed it quickly, and then went on to heal her leg. She was able to heal it for only a moment before the orb of chakra disappeared from around her hand. She tried to concentrate the chakra back around her hand, but all she could manage was a faint glow around her palm. She let out a frustrated groan as she panted, forgetting about the onyx eyed ninja holding her.

"You should take better care of yourself." Sasuke said after watching her heal him, yet not having enough chakra to even half heal herself. She gave him a pointed look, which was made severely less intimidating by the exhaustion evident on her pale face.

He scooped her up bridal style and began leaping through the trees back to where they had set up camp, and left a healing Naruto at this morning. Sakura had struggled at first, trying to escape his grasp, but was quickly stilled as Sasuke tightened his hold on her. She was about to protest but decided against it when he glared at her. She was too exhausted to argue anyways, being chakra deprived would do that to you.

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto bellowed as Sasuke landed in the middle of their camp carrying a half asleep Sakura. It had taken all she had to not fall asleep on the way there, but with Naruto yelling like he was, she didn't think it was going to be too much of a problem anymore. "What happened?" he directed at Sasuke as he hobbled over to them from his sitting place near the edge of their camp.

"I'm fine, Naruto." She said sleepily, rubbing her eyes and trying to become fully alert and awake.

"One of the ninjas broke her leg and she, of course, had used too much chakra fighting them to heal herself." He told Naruto, staring down at the pink haired girl he had grown fond of over the years. How he had yearned to see her, let alone be this close, while he had been with Orochimaru. He would never admit that to anyone though, not even the dobe. He looked down at her, only to find Sakura glaring up at him; he glared right back, even harder. He saw her wince and immediately got an earful of why.

"Let go, teme! You're hurting, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke. Sasuke realized that he had started tightening his grip on Sakura as he thought back on those dark memories, and quickly released her, accidently dropping her in the process.

Sakura let out a yelp as she hit the ground after a certain Uchiha had dropped her. Naruto dove to try and catch her but was too slow in his weakened state, and ended up falling on top of her instead.

"Get off of me, you idiot!" Sakura yelled at him, all traces of exhaustion leaving her voice.

"S-sorry, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto said as he scrambled to get off of her. He laughed a little as he rubbed the back of his spiky blonde head, a nervous habit he just couldn't break.

Sasuke watched the whole ordeal with a scowl on his face. "Idiots." He let out with a slow exhale. He immediately regretted it though as he saw the hurt in Sakura's eyes, even if she didn't change the angry expression on her face. 'Damn it!' Sasuke thought. He always lost his calm, cool, and collected manner whenever she was around. "Hurry up and roll out Sakura's sleeping bag, so I can lay her down on it, dobe." He almost barked at Naruto.

Naruto gingerly walked over near the fire and grabbed Sakura's sleeping bag to roll out before it. Sasuke followed him, once again having cradled Sakura in his arms. Once Naruto had rolled out her sleeping bag, Sasuke gently set her down on it. "Dobe," Sasuke said. "We need to pack up and get back to the village as soon as possible." It was just after noon and they should be able to make it back to Konoha before night fell.

"Hai, teme." Naruto said as he started haphazardly gathering all of their things, though minimal, into their collective bags. As he did this, Sasuke started performing hand signs to summon one of his snake ninken. Once the snake appeared before him, Sasuke gave him no time to speak and immediately ordered him to report to Tsunade-Sama that they had killed all thirteen of the missing ninjas, the ANBU could dispose of the bodies, and that they were coming back straight away. The snake vanished with a puff of smoke after letting out a low hiss and bowing to its master in compliance.

"Teme!" Naruto bellowed at the raven haired ninja. "If you're done playing with your snake, you wanna help me finish packing?"

"Shut up, dobe." Was all he responded with, but started helping to pack up everything anyways.

'Stay awake, Sakura!' she admonished to herself as the boys were packing. "You have to stay awake! Sasuke-Kun already thinks you're weak from being attacked so easily, and then not being able to heal yourself! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' Sakura kept saying these things to herself as the boys finished packing, willing herself to stay awake.

Finally finished packing, Naruto stepped over to Sakura. "You ready, Sakura-Chan?" He asked excitedly to the kunoichi as he stiffly bent to pick her up. Sakura was about to reply when she was interrupted by a certain Uchiha.

"I got her, dobe." He told Naruto, lightly pushing him aside and picking up the exhausted pink haired ninja in front of him. "You're still recovering from the last mission." He didn't even understand why the blonde had even come on the mission. Even though he healed faster than anyone because of the nine-tailed demon he hosted inside of him, he still hadn't recovered from the extensive wounds he had received from his last solo-mission. He had crossed through the Konoha gates barely standing. His chakra had been depleted, combined with a dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, several stitch worthy gashes covering his body, and an assortment of scratches and bruises.

That had been two days ago. Tsunade and Sakura had tried to heal him, but they hadn't had enough chakra to heal him completely, even with their extensive amounts of chakra. The day after that, Team Seven had been assigned to kill thirteen high-ranking missing ninja of the village hidden in the mist. With Kakashi Sensei being on an escort mission for Shizune and Sai on a top secret ANBU mission, only Sasuke and Sakura had been left to carry it out. Naruto, not wanting to make Team Seven smaller than it was, announced that he was going no matter what. After hours of whining, shouting, and complaining, Lady Tsunade had agreed to let the dobe go, if he would shut up and Sakura would agree to continue his healing during the mission. Being the kind hearted person she was, she had agreed.

Naruto had been more of an annoyance than a help on the mission. He still talked like himself, but you could tell that he was hurting by the way he moved. He had fought with Sasuke's decision to stay at the camp while he and Sakura took care of the missing ninja, but Sakura had immediately shut him up with a chakra powered punch. Sasuke smirked as he recalled the memory. Annoying as he was, Sasuke enjoyed the blonde's company and even Sakura thought of him as a brother.

She had healed Naruto some more before they had left though, but said she was "careful" not to use too much of her chakra. She clearly had used too much, and that was why she had become so easily chakra depleted by fighting the missing ninjas and healing Sasuke's injury. She never knew when to stop and take care of herself, did she? 'But that's okay,' Sasuke thought to himself. He would take care of her. He would never admit it to anyone, but he cared deeply for the kunoichi.

He lifted her off of the ground with ease and Naruto quickly rolled back up the sleeping bag and strapped it to the top of her backpack. He insisted on carrying all of their bags since Sasuke had his hands full with carrying Sakura, and she clearly wasn't capable of carrying her own, and the fact that he had felt completely useless the whole mission. Sasuke wouldn't tell him, but he was grateful that he had. And with that, they were off, jumping through the trees as fast as their chakra powered feet would carry them while staying mindful of an injured Sakura and a healing Naruto.


	2. Chapter 2

Team Seven stopped when they reached a break in the woods by a slow moving stream, half way back to Konoha. They only stopped because Sakura had been looking paler by the minute and her breathing had become much too shallow for Sasuke's comfort. Naruto didn't complain though, because even though he was almost healed, he was still stiff and winded more easily. He let out an 'ommf' as he let his body drop to the ground ungracefully. Sakura gave a weak smile at the blonde and was grateful that she wasn't the only one who had wanted to stop, even if she wouldn't voice having wanted to, for fear of being seen as an even bigger burden than she had been being.

While she was grateful to not have to walk in her injured state, staying in the same position for so long was starting to hurt, especially with Sasuke's tight grip and her broken leg throbbing. She figured the Uchiha must have been getting tired of holding her, even though she knew he wouldn't admit it. '_The_ Uchiha Sasuke would never admit to being tired.' "Stubborn idiot." She grumbled to herself. Her voice was weak though and it came out as a grunt more than anything.

Sasuke set her down on the grassy bank near the stream, but kept a steadying arm around her. He took his other hand and scooped a handful of the sparkling water and started to bring it to her mouth. Sakura hadn't realized just how thirsty she was until that very moment. She would've jumped at the stream right then and slurped all the water she could hold had she not thought that he should drink something first, not that she could've done that anyways being injured and such.

She brought a weak hand up to the water filled one and pushed it back towards its owner. "You… first." She managed to force out, albeit quietly. He gave her a stern look in response, but the pleading look she gave him made the Uchiha drink what water he had left in his dripping hand. He quickly scooped up another handful and brought it back up to the kunoichi's oh so soft lips.

She downed the water he held quickly, spilling some down her chin in the process. "Thanks." She said with a grateful sigh and tired eyes that threatened to close.

"Hn." He replied slowly reaching for another handful of water. When he brought it back up though, she once again pushed it towards him, but he complied. This cycle continued until both of them had drunk their fill. As Sasuke stood and started to walk away with Sakura held in his arms, he spied Naruto still sitting on the ground.

"Naruto…" Sakura said in a soft whisper. "Drink some, too."

Naruto peaked up and walked to the stream. "Sure, Sakura-Chan." He dipped in his face to the water and slurped noisily until he was satisfied. "Ahhhh." He sighed as he brought his face back up and lay down completely on the bank.

"Naruto," Sasuke started. "Let's go. We're wasting time." Naruto nodded and as soon as he had grabbed the bags, they were flying through the trees again on their way home. Sakura willed herself to stay awake, but it was becoming increasingly difficult since her chakra levels were extremely low and the throbbing pain from her leg threatened to make her pass out. She almost did until she was jolted to more alertness by Sasuke slipping a little on a branch. She gripped the front of his shirt tightly in balled fists.

'Damn it!' He admonished himself. He had stolen a glance down at Sakura only to see her almost passed out. His concern had caused him to lose focus and slip. 'You're a Jounin for Pete's sake! And not only that, an _Uchiha_! You shouldn't be slipping like that! She always did this to him.' He fumed mentally. 'Feelings are weak and only hold you back!' "Sakura," He said, impatience slipping into his normally cool voice.

"Hm?" She replied glancing up at him.

"Can you stand for me to go faster?" He asked, hoping she could. He was itching to get home to Konohagakure as fast as they could. She nodded her head. Sasuke looked back to Naruto, "Hey, dobe! Hurry up!" and he started running even faster.

"I've been holding back, teme!" The blonde yelled in response. "Let's go!" And then he started speeding up to match Sasuke's speed and even get a little ahead of him. 'I have to show Sasuke that I'm still better than him even when I'm weak, right?' He thought as he smiled and laughed to himself. 'At this rate, we could make it back home in time to get some ramen at Ichiraku's before they close for the day!' He became serious though when he saw how a pale Sakura was barely able to keep her eyes open and was clenching uncharacteristically weak at Sasuke's shirt. 'Hang in there, Sakura.' He willed. 'We're almost there.'

"I always told you I was faster than you, teme!" Naruto yelled as he passed through the gates of Konoha, only a few steps ahead of Sasuke. The sun was just now beginning to touch the edge of the mountains in the distance, signaling that it was about eight o'clock. Sakura had managed to stay conscious and awake throughout the whole journey home to Konoha. She was proud of herself. At least that was one way she proved she had willpower and a disciplined body. 'Finally,' Sakura thought to herself. 'Some strength instead of weakness.' With that glorious thought running through her mind, Sakura sighed with a small smile and succumbed to her exhaustion, releasing her weak grasp on Sasuke's shirt and becoming limp in his arms.

Sasuke didn't even bother answering Naruto's smug utterance once he noticed Sakura's body slacken into his. She needed to be at the hospital as soon as possible. He took off running once again, towards the hospital leaving no time to tell Naruto where he was going or why. He quickly understood though, and caught up with Sasuke without thinking.

"We've got to hurry." Naruto bit out at the pair while running.

Sasuke audibly growled at the blonde, cursing his habit of stating the obvious aloud.

"I'll run ahead and get Tsunade-Sama!" He said relishing at his brilliant idea.

"Hn." Sasuke said giving a slight nod as Naruto picked up his pace and started jumping rooftops to get to the Hokage faster. For once, the blonde had a good idea, and he was grateful that he had. Sakura had been worrying him ever since her breathing had become so shallow before they stopped for a break several hours earlier. Now though, her breathing was even shallower, if that was possible. He was surprised that she had even stayed conscious until they had made it back to their camp in the woods, but now, her unconsciousness worried him beyond belief and even, dare he say it? Scared him a little.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to a dear friend of mine, Kittypig. (Go check her out! By the way, she's the reason I updated tonight instead of later on.) And I'd like to thank my first ever follower, Tarantulaguy, and my first ever reviewer, Lonely Athena. Thanks for your support guys! I won't keep you waiting, happy Halloween!**

Tsunade and Naruto met Sasuke as soon as he stepped foot into the hospital. Tsunade directed him down a hallway off of the hospital's waiting room and then into a room on the right that had a number eight tacked above the door. Sasuke gently set her down on the white linen covered bed and was quickly pushed to the side as Tsunade started checking Sakura. He assumed she was taking her vitals or whatever.

"Uchiha," she called without taking her eyes off of Sakura, nor stopping whatever she was doing to her. "Tell me what happened, and don't keep me waiting."

Sasuke hated being ordered around, but this wasn't the time for him to disregard orders; Sakura needed to be healed. "One of the missing ninjas attacked her from behind and kicked her leg out from under her. She used too much chakra fighting the others and healing the dobe earlier that morning and couldn't heal herself."

"She barely moved at all the whole way home!" Naruto shouted, making sure he put his two cents in. "Her breathing was really, really, REALLY shallow and she was barely awake!"

"You mean she managed to stay awake the whole way back?" Tsunade said turning to face both of the male ninjas with a shocked expression on her face, having just finished checking Sakura over. Sasuke gave a slight nod in response while Naruto vigorously shook his head up and down while giving an "Mmhhm!"

Tsunade nodded her head. "Sasuke, come hold her leg. Naruto, hold the rest of her still. We need to get her leg set in the right position before I heal it back together." the blonde hokage said to the boys, going into full medic mode. 'You surprise me more and more every day, Sakura.' Tsunade thought to herself. 'I've seen veteraned ANBU return with twice this much chakra left and not been able to stay awake for five minutes.' As of now, Sakura's chakra was to the point of almost nonexistence and was barely hanging on. If Tsunade didn't heal her leg, Sakura's body would expend energy it didn't have trying to heal it instead of resting, which ultimately could lead to her death.

Tsunade started to extend Sakura's leg and looked to the two ninja holding her still to see that they were ready. Giving her the go ahead by nodding their heads in unison, she started pulling Sakura's leg towards her to get the bone to slip into the correct position.

Sasuke had been looking at Sakura and saw her face scrunch up in pain, but almost let go of her leg when he heard a small moan of pain escape her lips. "Sasuke!" Tsunade snapped at the Uchiha. "Get a grip! You're not going to do her any favors by not holding her leg still! You'll only cause her more pain by letting it heal incorrectly!"

"Hn." Sasuke said, holding her leg steady once more. He couldn't believe that he'd let that happen. How could this annoying, weak, beautiful, wonderful…. 'Ugh!' he mentally growled at himself. She was always doing this to him.

Tsunade gathered her chakra around her hand to start healing Sakura's leg. She had healed many broken bones before and knew she could easily do it, but she also knew that healing bones took a lot of chakra. She used one hand to hold Sakura's foot against her thigh, making sure it stayed straight, and took the other one that had her chakra gathered around it to heal the bone. As she pumped her chakra into her apprentice's leg she could feel the procedure working and knitting the bone back together.

Sasuke's brows furrowed as Sakura moaned in pain again, but he kept his grip on her leg this time. The last thing he wanted was for her to be in pain, but he had to put her in pain, to keep her from pain. That sounded ridiculous, but he'd do it to keep her from having it pain her in the future.

"Sakura-Chan…." Naruto said with an uncharacteristically hushed tone. "Hang in there. You've worked so hard to become strong, putting in countless hours of training and studying, overcoming every obstacle that stood in your way. This is just one more obstacle you have to overcome. You can do this. You have to…."

Tsunade finished healing Sakura's leg and set it back down gently onto the hospital bed. "There, good as new." The hokage announced as she used the back of her hand to wipe off the gleam of sweat that had accumulated on her forehead from healing her apprentice. "She'll need to rest for a day or two before she'll be up and moving around again and I suggest that you two get some rest as well, especially you, Naruto."

"I'm fine Gramol!" Naruto protested to the older medical ninja. "I want to stay here and make sure Sakura-Chan is okay."

"I told you to stop calling me that." Tsunade said clenching her jaw in irritation at the hyperactive ninja's outburst. "Now go home and rest, I know you're still recovering from your last set of injuries. And you, too, Uchiha."

Naruto's shoulders slumped in dissatisfaction, but the raven haired boy next to him didn't move an inch. Sasuke wasn't going to leave Sakura, not while she was stuck here in the hospital to recover. "Go ahead, dobe." He stated. "I'll stay here with her tonight."

Tsunade glared at the stubborn Uchiha, and received an even fiercer, darker glare from him that dared her to tell him to leave Sakura again. With a "Hmph" Tsunade turned away from Sasuke and started towards the door, pulling a struggling Naruto with her by the collar.

"Fine." The Hokage threw over her shoulder at him. "But you're wasting your time. I don't expect for her to wake up anytime soon within the next twelve, maybe twenty-four hours." She knew there was no way that she was going to be able to draw that boy away from Sakura with anything short of knocking the boy out and dragging him away herself.

"Hn." Was all the Uchiha said in response. There were noises of a struggle and shouts of protests from Naruto as Tsunade drug him away from Sakura's room. The noises died though in an abrupt manner for about two seconds when Tsunade, Sasuke assumed, had knocked the blonde upside the head with a sharp blow. This only caused the dobe to shout at her asking, "What was that for, you old gramol?" and many other exclamations that quickly faded as the hokage drug him away, not slowing her pace in the least.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura to see that she had slipped into a peaceful slumber, instead of the unpleasant unconscious state she had been in earlier. He walked closer to her and tucked the strands of her pink hair that had fallen onto her face, behind her ear and then slid his hand down to cup her smooth cheek. She let out a contented sigh at his tender touch and Sasuke was hard-pressed to remove his hand from her face. He did though, albeit reluctantly, and took a seat in the bedside armchair. He settled his gaze on the sleeping kunoichi determined to stay there and watch over her until she awoke, maybe even until she was well enough to leave.


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N: Thanks for reading this!(: Sorry I was slow in updating, I merely got lost on the path of life... Hehe. Anyways, I'll give you what you came here for. Enjoy chapter four!)**

_Sasuke looked down at Sakura to see that she had slipped into a peaceful slumber, instead of the unpleasant unconscious state she had been in earlier. He walked closer to her and tucked the strands of her pink hair that had fallen onto her face, behind her ear and then slid his hand down to cup her smooth cheek. She let out a contented sigh at his tender touch and Sasuke was hard-pressed to remove his hand from her face. He did though, albeit reluctantly, and took a seat in the bedside armchair. He settled his gaze on the sleeping kunoichi determined to stay there and watch over her until she awoke, maybe even until she was well enough to leave._

"Sasuke!" the young girl yelled to a raven haired boy, whose back was facing her. He stopped as she asked where he was going. He didn't bother answering her though. "You can't leave! I love you with all my heart! If you leave….then to me…it'll…it'll be the same as being all alone! " Even at this the figure in front of her still didn't turn around. "If you won't stay, then take me with you! I'll do whatever it takes, but don't leave me!" by now her jade eyes were brimming with unshed tears.

In an instant the raven haired boy had managed to get behind her without making a single sound. "Sakura…" he whispered. "You're annoying." And with those few words being said, all of the girl's unshed tears spilled over, streaming down her pale face.

"Sasuke." But that was all she got out, for the boy hit her on the back of her head, and knocked her out cold.

"SASUKE!" Sakura screamed as she sat up with tears streaming down her face. It was dark and she didn't know where she was and started to take off the blankets that were covering her. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and was about to stand up before a hand on her shoulder stopped her. Looking up, Sakura noticed that the owner of the hand was none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

Onyx eyes peered down into jade ones and Sakura immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, tears streaming down her face with renewed vigor. "Sasuke..." she whispered tightening her hold on him, refusing to believe that this was a dream and he was only a figment of her imagination. The hand he had place on her shoulder slid down to her back while his other hand began to stroke her soft pink locks.

"Don't leave me." Sakura choked out as she began to tremble and cry harder into his shirt. After her crying had died down, Sasuke pushed her away to look her in the eyes once more. Sakura let out a startled gasp at this and another when he picked her up bridal style.

He set her back onto the bed, but as he turned to walk away again, Sakura stopped him by grabbing his hand. "Please," she whispered with a pleading look in her eyes and tears streaking down her face. "Don't leave me." Sasuke obliged by crawling into bed with the pink haired girl. Once he made sure that they were both covered by the blanket, he wrapped his arms around her and brought her to his chest.

She responded by wrapping her arms around him tightly and placed her cheek against his chest. As they laid there he began to rub her back gently. Soon after, Sakura's breathing slowed, indicating that she had fallen back asleep. He placed his chin on top of her head and furrowed his brow in thought, wondering what had caused the kunoichi to have such a nightmare that it caused her to _scream_ for _him_; she usually wouldn't let him see her in any kind of way that made her seem weak. The thought troubled him that she even had nightmares at all. He hadn't the slightest idea of what it had been about, but he would lay here and comfort her all night if he had to. After having laid there a while, inhaling the scent of Sakura's hair, which smelled of the flower she was named for, Sasuke, too, fell asleep, cuddling her to his chest.

Sakura woke up, but didn't open her eyes, she was still very tired. 'I don't remember my pillows being this comfortable and warm, or smelling this _good_ for that matter.' She sleepily mused. They smelled like the deep woods with undertones of smoke. She inhaled the wondrous scent and snuggled deeper into her pillows, breathing out a sigh of contentment, and went back to sleep.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura as she stirred but didn't open her eyes. Her movement had awoken Sasuke from a sleep he hadn't know he had entered. He waited in anticipation, hoping she was going to wake up, and he would be able see those beautiful jade orbs looking up at his onyx ones again. Instead she snuggled deeper into his chest, exhaling a sigh, of what he thought was contentment, which made the corners of his mouth twitch up slightly. She fell back asleep and Sasuke felt a bitter happiness about it. She wasn't waking up yet, but this gave him the chance to stay cuddled with her longer. He sat there holding her to him and stroking her pink locks with a tender gentleness that wasn't normal of the Uchiha. It was still very early and he figured could stay in bed with her for a couple more hours without being interrupted by Naruto, or anyone else, barging in.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope all of you enjoyed turkey day!(: Don't forget that today isn't all about the food, although it sure is nice, but about being thankful for what we have! What are you thankful for? I'm quite thankful for my family. As much as they get on my nerves, I love them to pieces and I couldn't live without them! I'm also thankful for and all you wonderful people! I love fan fiction, so don't be afraid to share your stories with me!(: Anyways, here's another chapter for you all to enjoy! God Bless!**

"What?" A voice asked. "She can't have possibly been awake yet! Even the strongest of shinobi don't wake up for at least twenty-four hours after their chakra levels are that low!"

That was followed by many muffled shouts of, "Let me in!" and "I'll kick this door in if I have to!" and many other exclamations.

There was a sound of agitation from the other side of the room and by now Sakura was beginning to fully come to. She let out a small moan of discomfort at the bed she was lying in; it had to be the most uncomfortable thing in the world.

The talking had ceased, all except for the muffled shouts, and as Sakura opened her eyes she was greeted with the fifth hokage's intense face inches from her own scrutinizing her whole face.

"Sakura, how do you feel?" Tsunade asked, although it sounded more like a demand.

Sakura looked at her very confused; she didn't know where she was. After a moment it all started coming back to her, the fight, her leg snapping, Sasuke carrying here back to the village, coming through the gates… and then being very comfortable. That part didn't make any sense; the bed she was on now was extremely uncomfortable, but at least she knew she was in a bed in the Konoha hospital. She had slept in one of these very same beds on several other occasions instead of wasting valuable sleeping time walking home when she was working a late shift and had an early one the next day. In all honesty, she was tired, but other than that, she was fine, now that she had figured out where she was.

"I-I'm fine, Tsunade-s-sama." She pushed out, realizing how horse her voice was and noticing that it looked to be early in the evening, maybe six o'clock.

"I'M COMING IN!" the muffled voice shouted, and with a loud crash, a spiky blonde headed boy tumbled into the room, having broken the door to her room down by smashing it in with his shoulder. "Sakura!" he shouted, smiling up at her.

Sakura's eye twitched and an annoyed vein popped out on Tsunade's temple. "What do you think you're doing, you idiot!" she screamed at him and then flinched at the pain it caused her throat. 'I really need some water.' She thought to herself as she rubbed her throat in aggravation.

"S-sorry, Sakura-Chan." He said as he nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Idiot." A voice said from across the room. Sakura looked over to see that it belong to Sasuke, who was presently looking down at Naruto in annoyance.

'Really!' Sakura thought to herself gripping her fists at her side. 'Was there a reason they were all in here making a fuss over her. She was tired, that was all.'

"How does your leg feel?" Her mentor asked her. "Does it hurt at all?"

"Hmm?" Sakura questioned until she recalled that her leg had been broken. "No, no. It's fine, I forgot all about it being broken." She smiled, looking up at Tsunade.

"Good." Tsunade told her. "If you're feeling up to it, you can go home today. But you're not to do anything strenuous. You're body is still trying to build back up its chakra. Take it easy for a few days. Got it?" She ended smiling and closing her eyes the way Kakashi did when he was being serious, but not intimidating.

"Dattebayo!" Naruto bellowed at the news. "Let's go, Sakura-Chan! We'll go to Ichiraku's and I'll treat you to some ramen! I know your favorite flavor is miso, so we'll get that, and then-"

There was a loud "thump" as Tsunade interrupted with a punch to the back of his head that sent him face first into the hospital floor.

"Owww!" Naruto yelled even louder. "Why'd ya go and do that for, you old gramol?!"

"Do you even bother listening to me when I speak?" The hokage said as her eye twitched and an ugly looking vein throbbed on her temple. "I said," she tried again through clenched teeth. "She needs to rest. Stay at home. TAKE IT EASY! What don't you understand about that?!"

"I got it! I got it!" He shouted impatiently. "I just thought she'd want something REAL to eat to get her strength back up! Ramen is clearly a super-food! I mean, just look at me! I'm in tip top shape!"

'I'd really hate to see how high his sodium levels were.' Sakura thought to herself. 'It's a wonder he's in as good as shape as he is, regardless of the countless hours he spends training.'

"Naruto, I'm fine. Really." Sakura tried to reassure him, but at that moment, her stomach decided to betray her with an embarrassingly loud growl. 'I guess I am a little hungry…' She thought.

"See! We have to get ramen! It's part of the healing process!" Naruto whined very loudly at the elder female.

With slight annoyance in her voice, Tsunade replied, "If it'll shut you up, fine! But after that, straight to bed, Sakura Haruno!"

"Of course." Sakura said cheerily, giggling a little bit at how good Naruto was at changing the hokage's mind to his advantage.

"What are we waiting for?" Naruto said excitedly. "I'm starving! Come on Sakura! You, too, Teme!"

Between Naruto and Tsunade's bickering, Sakura almost forgot about the almost silent boy in the room. Brushing off the fact that she had forgotten about Sasuke, Sakura pushed the blankets off of her and swung her legs off the bed. As she stood up though, she swayed slightly forward before steadying herself by placing her hand on the nightstand by her bed.

"Sakura-Chan, are you alright?" Naruto worriedly asked her, while Tsunade watched her closely, and Sasuke simply glared at her.

After having steadied herself, she looked to Naruto and smiled. "Of course, Naruto! It takes more than that to keep me down!" Inwardly she wasn't fine though. She was actually slightly dizzy and very tired, but that wouldn't stop her. 'I trained under one of the legendary sanin, for crying out loud! If I can't handle being a little tired and slightly dizzy, then I don't deserve to be apprentice to the fifth hokage!' With that in mind, she determinedly walked to over where Naruto was and smiled brightly up at him. "Are we going to get something to eat, or what?"

A crazy grin, that was purely Naruto, spread across his face. "Alright! Let's go!"

Sakura made her way out the door, albeit at a slower pace than she normally would have, and grinning like the goofball he was, Naruto followed.

"Come on, Teme!" Naruto called at the raven haired boy lingering in the hospital room as he stepped out behind the young kunoichi. Sasuke didn't protest though, and followed them out, only giving a grunt in response.

'She just doesn't know when to quit, does she?' Tsunade thought to herself. 'That's okay though, that's why she's my apprentice. Besides, that Uchiha boy wouldn't let anything bad happene to her.' The hokage smiled to herself and she, too, left the room.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Super duper extremely sorry about the wait! I know I hate it when authors take forever updating, and then here I go doing it! Shame on me! Anyways, I tried to update last night, but then the Internet wasn't working and it wouldn't let me! So, merry late Christmas! Any who, enjoy the latest instalment of Konoha's Finest!(:**

"How about some ramen, old man?!" Naruto shouted at the man behind the bar, as soon as they had ducked under the decorative banners and sat on the stools in front of the bar.

Sakura gladly plunked down onto one of the stools at the restaurant. As much as she hated to admit it, the walk from the hospital to here had exhausted her. She felt a little shaky sitting there now trying to catch her breath, but thought that once she ate something, she would feel better.

Naruto kept talking with the man behind the counter about different kinds of ramen, and the conversation lead to the man's recent attempt at a new recipe he was working on.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura with worried eyes. The short walk from the hospital to the restaurant had tired her significantly, and even now, she was still trying to catch her breath. 'Why did she agree to come get something to eat? She should be home resting.' Sasuke thought, annoyed at her actions, but was overall worried about her.

Sasuke was interrupted from his musings and Sakura from trying to catch her breath, by the steaming bowls of ramen being set down in front of all of them.

"Alright!" Naruto yelled as he broke apart his chopsticks to dig in. After bowing slightly and praying a silent thank you, Naruto began noisily slurping down his ramen.

"Mmmm" Sakura hummed following in Naruto's actions, but at a much slower and polite pace.

Sasuke simply stared down at his ramen though, something was off about it. Sasuke's suspicions were soon justified though as Naruto, _Naruto Uzumaki,_ spewed the broth from his mouth and Sakura ran outside to vomit.

Looking at the ramen with disdain, he dumped the bowl's contents into a nearby potted plant, and followed after Sakura to make sure she was alright. As he ducked under the banners to exit the restaurant, he heard Naruto complain to the man behind the bar about how awful his new ramen recipe was.

Sasuke found Sakura down on her knees with her shoulders slumped at the edge of the street, where a small patch of vegetation grew. He noted that her breathing was labored and she was very pale.

'That has got to be the WORST ramen I have ever tasted, and I'm not so crazy about it anyways.' Sakura thought to herself as she sat near the bushes she had just thrown up in. 'Thrown up' was really an overstatement though. She didn't have anything in her stomach to throw up. The morning before she had barely eaten, afraid that she'd puke while fighting, some water on the way home, and just that mouthful of ramen today; luck had clearly not been on her side the past couple of days. She tried to gather herself together, which she found increasingly difficult in her weakened state.

"Sakura." Sasuke said, and she looked back up at him with exhaustion.

"I'm okay." She said, trying to put a smile on her face and failing miserably.

"You need to rest." He told her, looking down at her in her exhausted state.

"I'm fine… Really, Sasuke." But as she said this, she fell forward, only to be caught by the young Uchiha.

'Liar.' He thought about the pink haired girl he just caught in his arms. 'She just needs to stop being so stubborn, and go to bed.' He was starting to get annoyed now and gave her a pointed look to let her know that.

"I think I'm gonna call it a night." She said realizing that if she didn't go soon she just might pass out right there in the street. She stood up staggering a little bit, but manage to get to her feet nonetheless. After she had gained her balance, Sasuke let her go, and she started walking towards her apartment. "Tell Naruto goodnight for me."

She only managed to get five feet before she stumbled from the dizziness she felt. A hand wrapped around her upper arm and held her steady. She looked up to see the owner of the hand, and found it to be Sasuke again.

"Tch." Was the only sound he made. After he had made sure that she was once again steady, he started to lead her in the direction of her apartment. When Sakura realized what he was doing, she tried to pull free of his grasp, and almost lost her balance in the process. Sasuke glared back at her.

"I can walk to my apartment without someone's help, ya know. I'm not two." She said sternly, glaring right back at him. With a "Hn." He let go of her arm. She stood tall, straightened her shoulders, and began walking towards her apartment again. Sasuke caught up though and silently fell into step beside her.

They walked in silence all the way to Sakura's apartment. What would have normally been a five minute walk, turned into a ten minute struggle of endurance. By time she reached her door, she would have loved nothing more than to drop right there and take a break, but her pride wouldn't let her do that. She had made it this far, and was determined to see it through, not wanting to look weak in front of anyone, especially, Sasuke.

She jammed her key into the lock, after missing a few times, and unlocked the door. Almost forgetting about the boy outside, Sakura stepped into her humble abode and took her sandals off in the entryway. When she stood back up, dizziness swam across her mind, and she tried to push it away. It was harder to push away than she thought, and she soon found she had to place a hand on the wall to steady herself. As she fell forward she managed to register that someone else was there, but her mind was too foggy to piece out whom. Feeling like such a weakling, she succumbed to unconsciousness and fell into the black nothingness.

Sasuke had followed behind Sakura into her apartment and closed her door. As he did though, he noticed her becoming unsteady. Within an instant, he raced over to her and caught her with lightning fast reflexes. By the time she landed in his arms, she was out cold. He looked down at her, annoyed by how she pushed herself too far. 'How annoying.' He thought.

Carefully, Sasuke carried Sakura to her room and set her down on the bed, and covered her with blankets. He tossed a glance back at her as he made his way to the door. She annoyed him to no end with the effect she had on him. He acted like a whole different person around her, and that bugged him. 'No one should have that kind of power over me.' He thought dissatisfied. But he couldn't help but soften his expression at the way the moonlight filtered in through her window and caused her creamy skin to have an almost angelic glow about it. He shook his head to rid himself of her image, and then left without another glance back at her.

Sakura woke up in her bed feeling a lot better, more rested, and without an ache anywhere, but still a little tired. She stretched catlike; yawning as she did so, but immediately froze. Wait, her bed? Since when did she get there? She had just been out with Naruto and Sasuke at Ichiraku's, eating ramen. And then it clickedthe_ ramen_. It had tasted terrible, horrible, the worst thing she had ever put in her mouth, and that was saying something. She had eaten her best friend's cooking on more than one occasion, and Ino had to be one of, if not _the_, worst cook of all time.

After she had swallowed the first mouthful of noodles she had regretted it, and her body let her know she was right to do so without hesitating. Before she knew it, she was outside throwing it right back up. Sasuke had come out soon after to check up on her. She had said she was okay, but that had been far from the truth. She had felt bad, almost as bad as the ramen had tasted. Also, she had been dizzy as all get out, but her pride wouldn't let that keep her from reaching home.

She remembered refusing help in walking to her apartment, which caused her journey home to be agonizingly slow and tedious. She knew she unlocked her door and stepped inside, but after that she couldn't remember anything. 'Hmm." She thought. 'I bet I just said goodbye and thanks to Sasuke and then just crashed in bed. No harm done.' Now that she had pieced together the likeliest version of what had happened last night, the pink haired girl crawled out of bed and headed towards the bathroom.

Sakura emerged from the bathroom half an hour later toweling drying her hair and wearing a fresh set of clothes. As she finished drying her hair, she smiled contently at how good she felt. After her team's mission and her stay in the hospital, she was ecstatic at having the chance to wash her hair and scrub her body free of the grim that had accumulated.

As her stomach made its state of emptiness known by growling loudly, Sakura hung her towel up and headed towards her kitchen to make some breakfast. She was almost there when a knock at her door made her switch directions. When she opened the door, she was almost knocked over by a tackling hug from a blonde blur that shouted, "Sakura-Chan!"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I've been late in updating, so I thought two back to back chapters would be perfect! Enjoy! :D**

"Good morning, Naruto." Sakura strained out as he continued to hold her in a rib cracking hug.

He released her and held her at arm's length, staring intently at her face. "How are you feeling?"

Sakura smiled at her best friend's concern. "I'm fine, a lot better really."

"Dattebayo!" He exclaimed in joy. "Since you're feeling alright, do you want to catch something to eat?"

'Food. Is that all that boy thinks about?' Sakura thought to herself and inwardly laughed. "Sure, I'm starving!"

"Alright! I know, we can go to Ichiraku's! My treat." The bubbly blonde announced happily.

Sakura's stomach rolled in protest at having ramen again so soon after the experience she had with it last night. "Ooh, no, Naruto. Why don't we get something else? I can't handle ramen right now."

"What?!" Naruto asked in astonishment. "How could you, "not handle ramen?" It's the best thing in the wor-, oh yeah. I forgot about last night. Hehe…" He rubbed his head sheepishly, recalling last night's incident.

"Yeah…. Why don't we eat at that new place down the street? Ino says their rice balls are to die for." Sakura suggested.

"Wait, I got it!" Naruto shouted as made his way past Sakura, heading towards her kitchen, all while kicking his sandals off in the process. As he made his way through the entrance to her kitchen, he shouted back to her, "I'll make you breakfast!"

Sakura shook her head as she closed the door that Naruto had left wide open, and put the careless blonde's shoes together against the wall next to hers. Although, she was grateful for her friend's willingness to make her breakfast, Naruto wasn't the best cook, I mean, there was a reason he lived off of ramen.

With a small smile and a shake of her head, Sakura made her way into the kitchen. She found Naruto at her stove frying something in a silver skillet, and whatever it was, it smelled wonderful. "Mmmm." She hummed. "That smells good, Naruto."

"Of course it does, Sakura Chan!" the loud blonde bellowed at her. "I'm not just the best ninja of Konohagakure, I can do other things, too!"

"Oh, Naruto!" She said in a sing-song voice. "Hinata Chan has been giving you cooking lessons, hasn't she?"

" Well, uhm…. I mean! I just…" Naruto fumbled with his words as his face grew red.

"Hahahaha! She totally has!" Sakura said as she laughed at her best friend's embarrassment.

Naruto stuck his tongue out childishly at her and turned back to the stove to continue making breakfast. They passed the time with idle conversation and friendly jabs at one another. "There!" Naruto announced. "A tasty masterpiece, made by yours truly." With that he sat down two plates of delicious smelling fish and rice.

"This looks wonderful!" Sakura told Naruto as he grabbed their chopsticks. He smiled at her as he handed her a pair. They bowed their heads and gave a quick thank you before they broke apart them and dug in.

"This tastes amazing!" Sakura announced happily to Naruto.

"Mmmhmm!" Naruto replied as he woofed down his share of the food.

'Hinata sure is a wonderful teacher.' Sakura thought as she ate her fish and remembered the last time Naruto had cooked a meal. He had insisted upon making Team Seven dinner one night and had ended up almost catching his apartment on fire when he forgot about the rice he had been cooking on the stove. She chuckled at the thought and continued to eat her breakfast. "This is really good, Naruto."

Naruto looked up, momentarily stopping from shoveling down his food, and beamed his warm smile at her. "Thanks!" And then he went back to eating. Sakura laughed and continued eating her own food, albeit at a much slower pace.

"Let's spend the day together, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto suddenly bellowed as he cleared his plate. "It'll be fun! We can spar! It's been so long since we last did it!"

Sakura was about to answer when she was interrupted. "She's supposed to be resting, dobe."

"Teme!" Naruto bellowed at the Uchiha climbing in through the window. "Then you can spar with me!"

"Tch." He said as he leaned back against the kitchen wall across from them.

"He's just afraid he'll get his ass handed to him, Sakura." Naruto said to Sakura with a wink. The pink haired girl just laughed and shook her head at her boys as she took both her and Naruto's empty plates to the sink and began to wash the dishes from their breakfast.

"Please." Sasuke said. "I've got better things to do than waste my time beating you up."

"Oh, har har." Naruto said with a bored voice as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "Like you've got better things to do, teme." He closed his eyes, but they soon shot open as he leaned back too far and he and his chair went toppling to the floor.

"Naruto Uzumaki! How many times have I told you to use all four of the legs on the chair!" Sakura yelled at the blonde on the floor clutching his head.

"Tch, dobe." Sasuke said as he rolled his eyes at the clumsy blonde.

"Haha." Naruto laughed nervously. "Sorry, Sakura-Chan."

Sakura sighed as she examined the bump on the back of his head. "You're so careless." As she said this though, she gathered chakra around her hand and healed his bump.

After Sakura finished healing Naruto she went back to washing the dishes and he started badgering Sasuke to spar with him again.

"Come on, teme! What better have you got to do?" The blonde pleaded.

"If you must know, dobe," Sasuke said in an annoyed voice. "I've got a two day mission."

"What?!" Naruto yelled. "Already? What are you doing?"

"None of your business." He replied coolly.

"Come on! Tell me!" The blonde whined loudly.

"Tch." Sasuke scoffed. "Aren't you supposed to go meet Hinata?"

Naruto's eyes got wide and he ran towards the front door. "You're right!" He yelled over his shoulder. "Thanks, teme!" And with that he was out the door.

Sakura shook her head as she placed the last dish into the dish drainer and laughed to herself. 'He'll never learn will he?'

After Naruto had left, Sasuke and Sakura had found themselves alone in Sakura's apartment, and the silence that hung around there shoulders served as a reminder of his absence. In an attempt to break the silence that was bordering on becoming awkward, Sakura spoke up.

"Would you like some tea?" she questioned easily. 'Score one for the awkward girl!' she thought as she praised herself inwardly at keeping the silence from being awkward.

"Aa." He responded evenly.

"Good, I hope you look Oolong. I just bought some from the new tea shop by the Yamanaka's flower shop. It's really a cozy little shop." She said smiling as she filled the tea kettle and set it on the stove to boil.

"Hn."

'Tch, typical Sasuke.' Sakura mused to herself. 'It'll be a miracle when he learns to talk using more than one syllable responses.' She smiled and got a tablespoonful of the tea blend, but before she could dump it into the kettle, Sasuke spoke up.

"It tastes better if you put it in your cup instead of the kettle." Sasuke said as he recalled his mother teaching him that when he was younger.

Sakura just stared at him in wonder. 'I guess I just witnessed a miracle.' "I never tried that." But she did as he said and put a spoonful into each of their mugs and soon the whistle of the kettle meet their ears. After she poured water into both of their mugs, she set them down on the table and took a seat motioning for him to do the same. She brought the mug to her lips and as soon as she swallowed some of the steaming liquid she smiled.

"This taste so much better this way. Who knew it would make such a difference?" She beamed at him. 'I wonder where he learned that.' She thought.

Sasuke grumbled something incomprehensible to Sakura. The only thing she got out of it was a twitch of sadness flicking through his eyes and a "Hn."

'What'd I say wrong?' Sakura wondered as a small frown graced her face.

Sasuke didn't notice though as he was consumed by his thoughts of his once happy childhood. 'She always makes me think about all those memories.' He thought to himself. ' I hate it.' He was snapped out of his musings by the 'Crack!' that sounded from mug he didn't realize he was squeezing. The mug didn't shatter, but now there was a crack that ran from the bottom all the way to the top. "Fuck." He swore at the crack he caused.

"That's okay." Sakura said to him, taking his mug and throwing it away. "I do it all the time when I'm not paying attention." While she said this, she got another mug from a cupboard that looked to hold dozens more of the same exact one, and made him a new cup of tea. She set the new one down in front of him and they spent the next half an hour in a semi-awkward, semi-comfortable, silence sipping their tea.


End file.
